Nairobi Institute of Business Studies (NIBS) founder Elizabeth Wanyoike has died. She was 73 at the time of her death.
Ms Wanyoike who is commonly known as Lizzie Wanyoike is credited for founding and running one of the most successful institutions of higher learning in the country with a student population of over 10,000 and five campuses.
Despite its huge success today , NIBS started as a small college of just 20 students in a rented room where the founder doubled up as a tutor.
She is also the founder of the Lizzie Wayoike Preparatory School.
Ms Wanyoike rose from a humble teacher earning Sh961 per month, to establish herself as an epitome of success and role model to all the young girls, women and society alike.
Ms Wanyoike was born in 1951 in Murang’a County to a Village chief (father) and a peasant farmer (mother). She was the sixth born in a family of 10.
She attended Gathuki-ini Primary School, in Wathenge and later proceeded to join Kahuhia Girls High School, in Karuri, both in Muranga County.
After High School, she joined Kenyatta University College (present-day Kenyatta University) and graduated with a Diploma in Education.
Career
Ms Wanyoike began her career in 1970 where she worked as a tutor and principal at a city college. She was later employed by the government and posted to State House Girls Nairobi as a teacher in 1972.
At the time, she earned a monthly salary of Ksh961.
She would later realise that she was meant to be more than just someone’s employee. Together with her husband and other partners, they founded Temple College of Secretarial Studies where she taught secretarial courses.
Ms Wanyoike later felt that there was a need to introduce more and even newer courses into the school’s curriculum. She approached management with new ideas regarding new courses and curriculums they would incorporate but the proposals were rejected.
“I was pushing for the introduction of more courses other than secretarial units, to meet the growing demand for education, but the management would not listen. And even though the institution was making a profit, I was concerned about the growing demand for training in other areas,” she said in a past interview.
“By 1999 I was sure that the realities of a moving global economy required more challenging ventures to tap in the immense benefits of a globalised economy. I quit that partnership,” she stated.
NIBS
Armed with a loan of Ksh6 million and a loan of Ksh4 million from Equity Bank Kenya, Ms Wanyoike founded NIBS in 1999.
She rented a building and started the institution with 25 students and 2 teachers.
The institution got to a rocky start but continued to pick in later years. By 2010, she had raised Ksh134 million with which she built the college’s main campus on a 10-acre piece of land in Ruiru-Kimbo, Kiambu County.
By 2018, the College had grown to a population of over 6,000 students, 250 tutors spread across four campuses.
They include; Ongata Rongai, Thika Town, Nairobi Central Business District and Ruiru-Kimbo.
